High capacity, portable external disk drives have become a popular device. Today, users can transport and use a large amount of data, such as data files, documents, music, etc., with them. Portable external drives give a user the flexibility to easily carry and transport their data. Modern external drives have a relatively small physical size and yet they allow storing data capacities approaching of a terabyte or more.
For example, professional photographers may elect to use a portable external disk drive as an information storage device in the field to store pictures or movies. As another example, portable external disk drives are used to carry multimedia files, such as movies. In such applications, the robustness of the external drive can be a critical requirement.
However, portable external disk drives typically include sensitive components, such as electronics and delicate mechanical components. In particular, hard disk drives are vulnerable to excessive shock and vibration, which are common to a mobile environment. When mobile, a hard disk drive's internal components can be damaged if it is dropped, struck, or bounced, especially against a hard surface. The user may be unaware of the damage since the damage to the external drive can occur even without visible external damage. For example, if a portable disk drive is dropped, contact with a hard surface may lift the slider of the disk surface and then slap back on the disk surface creating damage. A disk drive that is subjected to this type of shock may fail on initial use or the reliability of the drive may degrade over time. Furthermore, when used in a mobile environment, external drives may be exposed to excessive moisture or dust conditions that can also damage or degrade components.